Round 5: Antonino De Rosa vs. Xuan-Ji Wang

Liam Coltman

The two players began by rolling Wang's die and when De Rosa rolled up a 20, Wang declined to roll saying "I can't beat that!". After much convincing from De Rosa he rolled, and of course turned up the 20 himself. The two joked about it but karma was on De Rosa's side when he won the next face off, with a score of 11 to 4.

Game 1

Derosa started the match playing out a turn two Goblin Turncoat, however Wang stole the turn advantage playing an Elvish Pioneer and then a turn 2 morph, sending the Pioneer in for the kill. He opted not to block the Turncoat when it came into the red zone and De Rosa matched the morph with one of his own. When Wang attacked back into the morph of De Rosa, he quickly shoved his morph infront of the creature, but Wang decided that his man was worth saving, burning a Vitality Charm. A Goblin Taskmaster was shown to Wang before being dumped in the graveyard and the turn was passed with Wang lacking a fourth land. Another morph replaced the now deceased Taskmaster and having ripped a land off the top Wang played down a Symbiotic Elf. Charging Slateback was De Rosa's answer and he sent the turn back to Wang.

He took the game by the scruff of the neck sending in his Symbiotic Elf and Elvish Pioneer, and when the two were blocked by the Turncoat and the morph, he used a one point Tribal Unity to keep his Symbiotic Elf alive. De Rosa simply slammed his Slateback into the Red Zone and brough down a Ridgetop Raptor. Wangs retort of Flamewave Invoker seemed a little lacking, but still he pressed his attack dropping De Rosa to 11 with his Symbiotic Elf. Sending his team back across the Red Zone, the Invoker was forced to chump block the Raptor, dropping Wang to 6 life and De Rosa kept pressing putting a Ridgetop Raptor into play.

Wang had no real answer and was forced once again to chump block with his Symbiotic elf and his morph which turned out to be Snapping Thragg. If he had drawn more mana earlier perhaps he might have had a chance but as it was the speed of De Rosa's deck was too much for him and he was forced to scoop up his cards.

De Rosa leads 1-0

Game 2

Despite Wang being from China and speaking little English the two communicated freely and joked pointing at cards as they were shuffling up for the second game. Wang's comment that the "6/6 was just too big" brought De Rosa to remark that he was indeed "large and in charge."

Wang elected to go first and led with a third turn Timberwatch Elf. De Rosa cycled Gempalm Incinerator at the end of the turn and played down a morph. After laying down his Wirewood Lodge, Wang thought for a second and then played down a Crown of Vigor on the Elf, pushing it forward into the red zone to deal first blood. Not to be outdone De Rosa attacked back and played out a Ridgetop Raptor, forcing Wang to rethink his strategy as he left his oversized elf at home and played a Slateback. Seizing his opportunity De Rosa hit the elf with a Pinpoint Avalanche and sent his two creatures past the helpless Slateback.

Wang tried to keep the pedal to the metal, playing an Erratic Explosion on the Raptor and crunching back with the Slateback. When De Rosa tapped all his mana on the next turn Wang looked a little worried but when it was only a Fallen Cleric entering play he breathed a sigh of relief. The Cleric tried to trade with the Slateback during the next combat phase but once again Wang had the Vitality Charm, allowing the beast to regenerate and live to tell the tale, playing out a Flamewave Invoker after the combat phase.

De Rosa simply untapped drew a card, unmorphed his Skirk Marauder targeting the Flamewave Invoker and sent it into the redzone, playing out another morph to replace it. Wang sent the Slateback back into the fray and De Rosa let it through dropping himself down to 10 life, however that would be Wangs last turn of the game. When he had nothing else to do and passed the turn, De Rosa calmly untapped, laid down a Macetail Hystadon, and attacked with it, his morph and the Marauder to take the game.